Jermain Defoe will be handed his first start for Bournemouth since returning to the club against Birmingham City on Tuesday night, 17 years after Harry Redknapp kickstarted his career by sending him to the Cherries on loan as a teenager.

The striker will be given the chance to impress in the starting eleven for the first time after his move to the Vitality Stadium from Sunderland earlier this summer.

When Defoe was 16, he signed a professional contract with Redknapp's West Ham United.

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“I said ‘I tell you what, I’ll send him down there for a week, he can train with you and if you want to loan him you can loan him’.

“On Monday at half past one my phone rang and Mel said ‘Harry, can we loan him for the season? We had a practice match this morning and he got five goals’.

Defoe, who last started a match for Bournemouth in May 2001, will be aiming to find form in the coming weeks in order to earn himself a place in the England squad for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Slovenia - starting with a strong showing in the Carabao Cup third round clash at St Andrew's.

The forward, who also played under Redknapp at Portsmouth and Tottenham, was perhaps dubiously linked with a reunion with the Blues boss in May.

Defoe instead joined Bournemouth on a three-year deal amid interest from a host of Premier League and Championship clubs.